Catch us on Blorptube!
I decided to split things like this so that if we watch six episodes next week and the week after that, we won’t have two two-parters back to back.
In any case:
- “Family Appreciation Day” gives us some Ponyville history lore that may or may not contradict a previous episode. This episode also introduces us to some more flora and fauna endemic to the Everfree Forest, which may or may not be shown again.
- “Baby Cakes” is the first time new characters are just straight up born in the show, which is perhaps a bit peculiar given that Mrs. Cake sure didn’t look pregananant when she was last seen just two episodes ago — but hey, baby hijinx in any case, everypony’s favorite, right?
- “The Last Roundup” introduces us to a second frontier town in Equestria, Dodge Junction (or Dodge City), probably also located on stolen Buffalo land, although this is never brought up and the town itself is only ever shown one other time after this episode. This episode also contains a very subtle I Love Lucy reference which I totally bet you can’t catch cause it’s really subtle.
“The Last Roundup” also namedrops for the first and only time the fan-favorite background pony Derpy Hooves — or doesn’t, depending on which version of the episode you watch! That’s right, this is as far as I’m aware the only episode of MLP:FiM that was officially edited for subsequent reruns, a move that caused a huge controversy in the brony fandom known only as “Derpygate”. We’ll be watching the original version of the episode, and I must once again thank our good friend Garg for taking the time to find and upload that version of the episode.
After we finish “The Last Roundup”, we’ll watch the 50-minute YouTube video “DERPYGATE: An Insane Controversy” to explain the controversy behind the episode’s edit in detail. I’ve never watched this video before, just skimmed it, so I don’t really know what to expect from it, but I think it’ll be interesting and fun enough in any case.
Content warnings
“Family Appreciation Day” — bullying, ageism, colonial themes
“Baby Cakes” — babies crying, dirty diapers
“The Last Roundup” — overwork, ableism, abandoning family
“DERPYGATE: An Insane Controversy” — ableism, potential spoilers
Is there anything that should be added or changed about the content warnings? Please tell me!
♫ Uniting nations at the speeeed of liiiiight ♫
[epic sax solo]
♫ Station of the '20s — TV☆3SIS! ♫